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VMware vCenter™ Chargeback Evaluator’s GuideInstalling, Con�guring, and Deploying vCenter Chargeback

E V A L U A T O R ' S G U I D E

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E valuator’s guidEVMware VCenter™ ChargebaCk

Contents

1. Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.1 about this guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

1.2 how to Use this guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

1.3 help and Support During the evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

2. What is VMware vCenter Chargeback? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

3. System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

3.1 hardware requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

3.2 Software requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

3.3. Software Installations and Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

3.4. VMware vCenter Chargeback Installation and Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

4. VMware vCenter Chargeback Use Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

4.1. Create chargeback hierarchy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

4.2. Utilize fixed cost model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

4.3. Utilize variable cost model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

4.4. generate comparison reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4.5 Setup automated reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

4.6 Manage user access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

5. Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

5.1. VMware Contact Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

5.2. Providing Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

6. Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

7. VMware vCenter Chargeback Evaluation Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

8. Variable Cost Base Rates Calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

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1. getting started1.1 About This GuideThe purpose of this document is to support a self-guided, hands-on evaluation of VMware vCenter™ Chargeback. This document is intended to provide IT professionals with the necessary information to install, configure, and deploy VMware vCenter Chargeback in a VMware vSphere™ 4 environment.

The content includes a product overview, configuration options, and key use cases to demonstrate how Chargeback can help you account for the operational costs involved in providing and maintaining an IT infrastructure, including the costs for IT services and applications, that deploy VMware vSphere infrastructure. Measuring resource utilization and calculating the corresponding IT operational cost enables you to account for the IT resources utilized, and bill for the services provided in a virtual infrastructure.

1.2 How to Use This GuideThis guide will walk you through some key use cases for Chargeback to help you conduct a successful product evaluation. A worksheet provided at the end of this guide will help you track your progress.

A glossary of terms is also available to help explain unfamiliar terms.

1.3 Help and Support During the EvaluationThis guide is not meant to substitute for product documentation. For detailed information regarding installation, configuration, administration, and usage of VMware products, please refer to the online documentation. You may also consult the online Knowledge Base if you have any additional questions. Should you require further assistance, please contact a VMware sales representative or channel partner.

Below are some links to online resource, documentation, and self-help tools:

VMware vSphere and VMware vCenter Server Resources:

• Product Overview

• Product Documentation

• VMware vSphere 4 Documentation (including hardware compatibility guides)

• White Papers and Technical Papers

• VMware vSphere Evaluator’s Guide

Chargeback Resources:

• Product Overview

• Product Documentation

• Chargeback Release Notes

• User’s Guide

• Chargeback Calculator

• Chargeback Community

• Support Knowledge Base

http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vs_pubs.html

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vs_pages/vsp_pubs_esx40_vc40.html

http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/

http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/10020

http://www.vmware.com/products/vcenter-chargeback/

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vcbm_pubs.html

http://www.vmware.com/support/vcbm/doc/v10/vcbm_1_0_release_notes.html

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vCenterChargeback_v10_Users_Guide.pdf

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vcbm_pubs.html

http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/mgmt/chargeback

http://kb.vmware.com

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2. What is vMware vCenter Chargeback?VMware vCenter Chargeback, a component of the VMware vCenter product family of management solutions, lets customers model, measure, and assign costs associated with virtual machines. Chargeback enables accurate cost measurement, analysis, and reporting. With vCenter Chargeback, you can create cost transparency and accountability so business owners and IT staff can understand the actual cost of the virtual infrastructure required to support business services. VMware vCenter Chargeback is fully integrated with VMware vCenter Server and gives you the ability to map IT costs to business units, cost centers, or external customers — enabling a better understanding of how much resources cost and what can be done to optimize resource utilization to reduce overall spend on IT infrastructure.

Chargeback lets you define a custom hierarchy that maps to different business entities, such as departments, divisions, business units, service level tier, applications, or virtual machines, Flexible cost models allow IT to measure fixed costs, allocated costs, actual utilization, or a mix of all three, tracking costs by business unit or group. With simplified billing and reporting, Chargeback provides cost transparency for IT services by automatically creating detailed billing reports that can be submitted to business units within an organization.

Chargeback allows administrators to:

• Report Virtualization Costs PreciselyChargeback takes into account many different factors. These range for hardware costs (CPU, Memory, Storage, etc.) to additional elements such as power and cooling. Chargeback can incorporate all of these variables to provide IT with a comprehensive virtualized environment, cost-enabling chargeback to individual business units and the business as a whole.

• Understandthecostsofvirtualmachines

• Properlyallocatecostsacrossorganizationunits

• Comprehensivereporting

• Customize Cost Models and MetricsChargeback allows for IT organizations to enter their unique cost information and tune chargeback based on their specific requirements.

• Supportsreservation-basedcosting,utilization-basedcosting,oracombinationofboth

• Allowsforentryofcostaccountingstructures,basecostmodels,fixedcosts,andmultipleratesneededto calculate true costs. Templates can also be used to apply existing models quickly to expanding or new environments

• Exportofdatatothird-partysystemsorimportingofexistinghierarchies

• Simplify BillingChargeback automatically creates detailed billing reports that can be submitted to business units within an organization. This provides business units with a clear view into resources consumed and their associated costs. Administrators can now transition the IT environment from a cost center to a value center.

Chargeback tightly integrates with VMware vSphere and vCenter Server.

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Figure 2.1 a. VMware vCenter Chargeback Architecture Overview

3. system requirements3.1 Hardware RequirementsThe minimum hardware requirements for a successful evaluation include the following components:

• Onephysicalserver(2arerecommendedforimprovedperformance)–ThisisusedtoinstallVMwareESX™,VMware vCenter Server, and VMware vCenter Chargeback Server software as well as several test virtual machinestodemonstratetheproduct’sfeatures.PleaseseetheVMwareESXhardwarecompatibilitylistforsupported server models.

• OneWindowsworkstationorlaptop–ThisisusedforremoteaccesstotheESXserverwiththeVMwarevSphere Client.

FordetailedhardwarerequirementsforESXServerhost(s),refertothetablebelow:

Hardware requirements for Chargeback Evaluation use Cases

Minimum recommended Hardware used in this guide

# eSX Server hosts 1 3 eSX Servers for a small VM population environment

4 (2 for Chargeback infrastructure, 2 for

“Compute-Farm”)

CPU 2 processors of 1500 Mhz 2 dual-core processors of 2500 Mhz

2 quad-core processors of 2500 Mhz

Memory 4gb 8gb 10gb

Disk Space 24gb (San/Local) 64gb (San) 300gb (San)

network 1 gigabit nIC 2 gigabit nIC 2 gigabit nIC

NOTE: If using the minimum one ESX Server for hosting both Chargeback infrastructure and the “Compute–Farm” cluster used in this guide, there will most likely be performance degradation, depending on the active number of virtual machines. Please use the recommended configuration to avoid issues.

CB Application/Web UI

VI Client

VC1

VC2

vCenter Chargeback Server• Stores Organization Hierarchy• Stores Cost/Rate Plan• Global CB Configuration• VC DB Statistics

CB DB

JDBC

VC APIs/JDBC

Multi VC Deployment

HTTP(S)

HTTP(S)

• CB Plug-in

• CB Reports• CB Configuration

vCenter Chargeback

REST APIs/HTTP(S)

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3.2 Software RequirementsFor the purpose of this evaluation, you will need the latest versions available for download of the following software:

• VMwarevSphere(Standard/Enterprise/EnterprisePlus)Evaluationcopy.NotethatChargebackalso supportsVMwareInfrastructure3.5(VI3)andthat“ESX”inthisdocumentreferstobothESXandESXi.

• VMwarevCenterEvaluationcopy

• ChargebackEvaluationcopy

VMware offers a free 60-day evaluation of the VMware software below. Follow the instructions at http://www.vmware.com/go/try-vcenter-chargeback which will walk you through the process to download the necessary licenses and the following binaries:

Binary usageeSX 4 (iso file) You can create a boot CD from this iso file and use

this CD to boot your server and install eSX 4.

VMware vCenter Server (zip file) the zip file includes an installer for VMware vCenter Server 4.

Chargeback (zip file) the zip file includes an installer for Chargeback. extract the contents to temporary folder and launch executable file to start the install.

Note that Chargeback can also be configured in an existing environment and does not require an isolated dedicated environment for evaluation purposes. The above recommended hardware and software is intended for sites that want to evaluate Chargeback without having access to an existing virtual infrastructure setup.

Chargeback user interface is browser-based and can be accessed using the following supported browsers:

• MicrosoftInternetExplorer6.xand7.x

• MozillaFirefox2.xand3.x

Although vCenter Chargeback can be accessed through a Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.x or Mozilla Firefox 2.x Web browser, VMware recommends that you use a Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.x or Mozilla Firefox 3.x Web browser.

http://www.vmware.com/go/try-vcenter-chargeback

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3.3. Software Installations and ConfigurationsBefore you embark on the evaluation exercises, you need to install and configure the software listed in section 3.2. The table uses time estimates based on the hardware used to write this guide.

step installation and Configuration details time estimate1. Provision two physical servers with the hardware profile

described in Step 3.1.Varies

2. Install eSX Server software on two physical servers, including storage configuration. (See eSX Server 4 Installation guide for more details).

45 minutes per eSX host

3. Install VMware vSphere Client1 on a supported windows machine (e.g. a laptop).

20 minutes

4. Create a virtual machine on one of the eSX hosts using the VMware vSphere Client and install windows Server 2003 on it.

Virtual machine configuration:

Operating System: windows Server 2003 32-bit enterprise edition (SP1 or higher)/ Standard edition (SP1 or higher) note that 64-bit is supported, although Chargeback runs 32-bit processes.CPU: 2 vSMPMemory: 4gbDisk: 40gb thin provisionednetwork: 1 nIC card

60 minutes

5. Clone the newly created windows Server 2003 virtual machine created in Step 4 to a new copy of it. Install VMware vCenter Server on the cloned virtual machine.

30 minutes

6. Start the VMware vSphere Client and connect to the VMware vCenter Server just created in Step 5. add the eSX hosts provisioned in Step 2 to the VMware vCenter Server inventory.

10 minutes

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7. Create test virtual machines (preferably from already created template VMs to save time) that will be used as the source for chargeback reporting.

For demonstration purposes, this guide uses a total of 8 virtual machines, with a combination of OS types: windows XP/2003/2008 and red hat Linux. Create a single cluster with at least 2 eSX hosts that contain 2 resource pools, named Development and Production, with the number of VMs split between the 2 resource pools as follows: Figure 3.3 a. Hosts, clusters and resource pool setup

10 minutes

total estimated time total estimated time: 5-6 hours excluding server provisioning time in Step 1

1OpenaWebbrowserandconnecttoyourESXhostbytypinginthehostnameorIPaddress.ClicktheDownloadVMwarevSphereClientlink.Savetheinstallerto

yourworkstationandinstalltheVMwarevSphereclient.LaunchtheclientandtypeintheIPaddressorhostnameoftheESXServertoconnect.

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3.4. VMware vCenter™ Chargeback Installation and ConfigurationBefore installing VMware vCenter Chargeback on the virtual machine created in step 4 of section 3.3, you need to ensure the following prerequisites are met:

Prerequisites detailswindows Server 2003 services and framework Install:

• Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0• .NET framework 2.0 (SP1 or higher)

network Prepare:• Static IP address for NIC card• Gateway• Subnet Mask• Primary DNS Server• (Optional) Secondary DNS Server

SQL Server Install either SQL Server 2005 or 2008, Standard or enterprise edition. You can also use the SQL Server instance that hosts the VMware vCenter Server database.

Chargeback Server Install Chargeback on one of the windows 2003 virtual machines created during the earlier vSphere setup.

To install Chargeback, you can simply launch the Chargeback Installation executable listed in section 3.2 in a virtual machine. During the installation process, you will be prompted to enter the information of your database; in this evaluation guide, we are using SQL Server. After Chargeback has been successfully installed, you will be able to evaluate its capabilities as described in the sections below. After installation, log in to the application using the administrative account user name, and add your VMware vCenter Server (created in step 7 of section 3.3) to vCenter Chargeback. Please refer to the Chargeback User’s Guide for detailed instructions on installing this product.

A couple of items to be aware of during the install:

1. Chargeback does not currently support Windows authentication, so verify SQL Authentication by logging inusingthe“sa”accountwithSQLServerManagementStudiowhencreatingthedatabaseforChargeback.Consult Microsoft documentation as needed and reference Microsoft KB articles 319930 and 269587 for detailsonhowtoenable“sa”SQLServerAuthenticationforMicrosoftSQLServer.

2. Install all components of Chargeback during the install, including the Data Collector and Load Balancer. The Data Collector monitors and collects data from multiple vCenter servers and databases. The Load Balancer enables you to have more than one instance of the Chargeback application running, and ensures that no single Chargeback instance is loaded disproportionately with user requests.

3. The following is a sample of the information required when adding a vCenter Server to Chargeback:


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Figure 3.4 a. vCenter account setup details

4. IfyouaresettingupLDAPaccountnotethatthe“[email protected]”formmustbeusedasfollows:

Figure 3.4 b. LDAP setup details

Where tml.local is your domain name hence BaseDN will be dc=tml,dc=local.

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5. The following is an example of adding a SMTP email server:

Figure 3.4 c. SMTP setup details

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4. vMware vCenter Chargeback use CasesThis section outlines six scenarios for Chargeback and lists the recommended steps for each scenario.

These use cases will provide a better understanding of how Chargeback can be used to migrate from your current billing or cost tracking policy, typically fixed cost per resource based, to allocated or usage-based cost tracking or chargeback. This guide will also show how to automate reporting to align with billing cycles and how to manage access to Chargeback information.

Note that Chargeback is able to calculate costs based on fixed or variable costs. Fixed costs are typically for items where the cost does not change depending on the usage e.g. fixed cost of the OS license per virtual machine. Variable costs are for items that do change depending on their usage, e.g. disk space utilized by a virtual machine.

The scenarios are broken down into the following:

1. Create chargeback hierarchy

2. Utilize fixed cost model (charge a fixed cost for each VM)

3. Utilize variable cost model (charge a variable cost for each VM depending on resource usage)

4. Generate comparison report

5. Setup automated reports

6. Manage user access

The table below presents an overview of the scenarios and the associated steps. The time estimates provide an approximation of the expected time that you will spend in each use case. They do not necessarily reflect the exact time needed.

resource details time EstimateCreate chargeback hierarchy 1. Login to Chargeback

2. Create custom hierarchy10 minutes

Utilize fixed cost model 1. Define fixed cost template2. Define fixed cost model3. Configure fixed cost model4. run report with fixed cost model

20 minutes

Utilize variable cost model 1. Define variable cost template2. Define variable cost model3. Configure variable cost model4. run report with variable cost model

30 minutes

generate comparison report 1. run comparison report2. review comparison report results

15 minutes

Setup automated reports 1. Setup a report template2. Schedule automated report

30 minutes

Manage user access 1. add domain group and user2. assign role to domain group3. run report as domain user

15 minutes

total time estimate: 120 minutes

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4.1. Create chargeback hierarchyChargeback interacts with the vCenter Server to determine the utilization of the computing resources by various virtual machines that are created in the vCenter Server hierarchy. Chargeback enables you to create different chargeback hierarchies, which can be different from the vCenter Server hierarchies.

AchargebackhierarchydefineshowthevariousvirtualmachinesandESXServerhostsareassignedtoandshared by different departments, cost centers, or business units in an organization.

To start login to Chargeback by a Web browser, create a custom hierarchy to setup the connection between vCenter Server and Chargeback entities.

Step 1: Login to Chargeback1. Open up a browser and enter the address of the server where you installed Chargeback using http (default

portis8080)orhttps(defaultportis443)followedby/cbmui(e.g.https://cbm-app-01.tml.local/cbmui)andlogin as user ‘admin’ with the password you provided during the install.

Figure 4.1 a. Chargeback login

2. After you login, click on System Health tab and confirm that all lights are green to ensure all back-end components such as vCenter Service are active and connected successfully. If any of the lights aren’t green, you must resolve this issue before moving forward, otherwise you will encounter issues working through the rest of the steps.

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Figure 4.1 b. Chargeback System Health details

Step 2: Create custom chargeback hierarchy AchargebackhierarchyallowsyoutoeasilydefinehowvirtualmachinesandESXserverhostsareassignedtoand shared by different departments, cost centers, or business units in an organization. You can create a new custom hierarchy as per your requirements, or create a hierarchy that is the same as the vCenter Server hierar-chy through synchronization. In this example, a custom hierarchy was created.

1. Select the Manage Hierarchy tab and click on Create Chargeback Hierarchy. Enter “my-datacenter-hierarchy”forNameandDescriptionandclickon Create.

Figure 4.1 c. Create new hierarchy details

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2. To add a vCenter Server entity to the newly created Chargeback hierarchy, select the newly created hierarchy name on the left pane and on the right pane select the name of the vCenter Server that was added during the install. Expand the folders until you are able to see your vCenter Server cluster. Select the Compute-Farm cluster by clicking once on the name, releasing the mouse click button to complete the click, do not keep it pressed, otherwise the mouse icon will not change. You will notice thatthemousecursorchangestothenameoftheclusteryouselected,e.g.“Compute-Farm”.Nowmovethechangedmousecursorovertothenewlycreatedhierarchyname,e.g.“my-datacenter-hierarchy”andclick once on the name to complete the association.

Figure 4.1 d. Add vCenter Server cluster to chargeback hierarchy

ThiswilladdthevCentercluster“Compute-Farm”tothechargebackhierarchynamed“my-datacenter-hierarchy”.Expand the folders on the left side to confirm you are able to see all the resources in the cluster you added.

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Figure 4.1 e. Cluster now added into new chargeback hierarchy

3. (Optional) Move and delete entities within the hierarchy as desired.

4.2. Utilize fixed cost modelMany environments today do not have a current billing or cost tracking policy for virtual infrastructure, so this scenario shows how to start with a simple fixed cost model based on the fixed cost of a virtual machine. With the help of the VMware Chargeback calculator, you can translate physical costs to virtual and determine fixed costs per VM. In this example, the value of $25 per VM per day is used.

The fixed cost model relies on defining fixed costs that are setup in the current environment, and then attaching them to one or more folders in the hierarchy through a cost template. In this scenario, resource pools are used, then a report is run, and the results are verified.

Step 1: Define fixed cost templateChargeback enables you to create cost templates. A cost template consists of rate factors for each of the chargeable resources, global, and local fixed costs.

Rate factor is the multiplication factor to be used along with the base rate to calculate the charge per unit of a resource for an entity. Rate factors are useful when you want to charge the entities in a hierarchy differently. The rate factors enable you to apply a cost that is a multiple or a fraction of the base rate.

Local fixed cost is a cost that is specific to an entity, a group of entities, or to an entire hierarchy. For example, real estate cost for physical storage of the entities. This cost differs based on the actual geographic location.

The rate factors and local fixed costs are entity-specific. You can set these values in a cost template and use the template to configure the costs at the entity level.

In this scenario, a global fixed cost of $25 per VM per day. This value includes the hypothetical cost of the OS license, cost of disk space, etc. per day will be set up. You can use the Chargeback calculator referenced in the Help and Support During the Evaluation section to calculate your own value.

After defining the global fixed cost, a cost template that utilizes this global fixed cost will be defined and all the resource rate factors will be set to zero, to indicate that this template will be used for fixed cost modeling instead of resource usage based.

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1. Select the Manage Cost tab and then click on Global Fixed Cost, then Create.Enter“fixed-cost-per-VM”forNameandDescription,‘25’for“Value”,leavingdurationat‘Daily’andclickonCreate.

Figure 4.2 a. Create Global Fixed Cost

2. Click on Cost Template then Create…andenter“fixed-cost-template”forNameandDescription. Figure 4.2 b. Fixed Cost Template - General

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3. Select Rate Factorstabandsetallthe“RateFactors”to‘0’.0’isenteredforeachoftheratefactorstoavoidcalculating costs for any of the variable resources, and instead calculate only for the fixed costs associated in the next step.

Figure4.2c.FixedCostTemplate–RateFactors

4. Select Fixed Costs tab and select fixed-cost-per-VM fromthe“Global”dropdownlist.ClickAdd to select it into this template. Click on Create to complete setting up the cost template.

Figure4.2d.FixedCostTemplate–FixedCosts

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Step 2: Define fixed cost modelChargeback cost model defines the base rate and billing policy. Base rate is the global rate that you want to charge for a unit of the chargeable computing resource, e.g. CPU, memory, etc. A billing policy determines the cost types and chargeable units to be considered for calculating the chargeback cost. Chargeback provides several types of billing policies, e.g. Fixed Cost, and Actual Usage, etc.

In this scenario a fixed cost model that only defines the billing policy and have the base rates set to zeros defined indicates that resource usage based costs are not to be calculated.

1. Click on Cost Models and then Create.Complete“fixed-cost-model”forNameandDescription.

Figure4.2e.FixedCostModel–General

2. Select Billing Policy tab. A billing policy determines the cost types and chargeable units to be considered forcalculatingthechargebackcost.Leave“Updatefromnowonwards”radiobuttonselectandselectFixed Costforthe“BillingPolicy”fromthedropdownlist.Byselectingafixedcostbillingpolicy,Chargebackwill consider only the fixed cost associated with each entity, and will ignore the actual resource usage and base rates defined for each resource.

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Figure4.2f.FixedCostModel–BillingPolicy

3. Select Base Rates tab and leave all values at ‘0’. ‘0’ values for the Base Rate are entered because only the fixed costs setup in the cost template are of interest, not in variable resource costs. Click Create to complete this step.

Figure4.2g.FixedCostModel–BaseRates

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Step 3: Configure fixed cost modelThe base rates defined in a cost model are global values and will be applied uniformly to the entire hierarchy or part of the hierarchy for which you generate a report.

In real time, however, you might want to charge each entity or a set of entities differently. That is, the resource usage cost for one virtual machine might differ from that for the other. This can be achieved only if the cost for each entity or a set of entities in the hierarchy is configured separately.

You may want to charge some global fixed costs and entity-specific local fixed costs.

In this scenario the same fixed costs at the cluster level are used, i.e. same cost configuration for both the “Development”and“Production”resourcepools.

1. Select the Configure Cost tab, click on Edit Entity Cost Configuration,expand“Compute-Farm”inthehierarchy, select Development resource pool, select fixed-cost-modelin“CostModel”dropdownlist,fixed-cost-templatein“ApplyCostTemplate:”dropdownlist,checkUpdate Rate Factors, check Update Fixed Costs, check the Distributecheckboxonthelinefor“fixed-cost-per-VM”andfinallytheUpdate button. Click the OK of dialog box that confirms cost configuration has been updated for this entity.

Figure 4.2 h. Configure Cost Details for Fixed Cost Model - Development

2. Verify the new cost configuration assignment by clicking on View Entity Cost configuratio, ensure the “fixed-cost-model”isassociatedwiththeresourcepool“Development”,thatthefixedcost“fixed-cost-per-VM”islistedinthe“FixedCosts”tableandthatthevaluesareall‘0’inthe“RateFactors”table.

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Figure4.2i.ViewEntityCostConfigurationforFixedCostModel–Development

3. Repeatprevioussteps1and2fortheresourcepool“Production”withthefollowingidenticalcostconfiguration.

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Figure4.2j.ViewEntityCostConfigurationforFixedCostModel–Production

Step 4: Run report with fixed cost model1. Click on the Reports tab, right click on Development resource pool and select Generate Report on this

Entity.Enter“fixed-cost-report-development”forNameandDescription.Selectfixed-cost-model from “Selectacostmodel”dropdownlist.Ensureyouselecta“From:”dateinthefuture(minimumtoday+1)anda“To:”dateequalorlaterinthefutureasthe“From:”date.Thiswillmakereconcilingthereportresultsless complex, due to the fact that Chargeback will take into consideration the current time of today when doingfixedcostcalculationse.g.,ifcurrenttimeofdayis9pm,thenitwillproratethe$25/day/VMover3hours (24-21) = $3.125 instead of the full $25. Note that Chargeback uses midnight (00:00) as the daily time boundary. Click Generate Report to run the report.

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Figure4.2k.GenerateReport–FixedCostModel-Development

2. Reviewthereportoutputandverifytheresults.NotethateachVMwascharged$25/dayby configuring only the cost at the resource pool level and distributing it over the resource pool during the cost configuration.

Figure4.2l.ViewReport–FixedCostModel-Development

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3. Repeatprevioussteps1and2forthe“Production”resourcepoolandverifytheresults.Iftherearea different number of VMs, ensure the fixed cost per VM reconciles to the results.

Figure4.2m.ViewReport–FixedcostModel-Production

4.3. Utilize variable cost modelIn this scenario, two variable cost models are setup, one for the development resource pool and one for the production resource pool, demonstrating the flexibility of Chargeback, by having different variable cost models for different tiers of virtual infrastructure.

A variable cost model utilizes the actual resource usage of virtual machines as obtained from vCenter Server. Then Chargeback determines the charge of each resource based on costs configured for each resource type over the period of interest.

Step 1: Define variable cost template1. If not already logged into Chargeback, log back in as user admin.

2. Select the Manage Cost tab, click on Global Fixed Cost, click Create.Enter“cost-per-OS-license”forNameandDescription,enter5for‘value’,andleavethedefaultof“Daily”for“Duration”.ClickCreate to complete.

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Figure 4.3 a. Fixed Cost detail for Variable Cost Model

3. Click Cost Template, click on Create...,andenter“variable-cost-template-production”for Name and Description.

Figure4.3b.VariableCostTemplate–Production–General

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4. Select the Rate Factors tab and enter a rate factor of 1 for all computing resources. This time a value of ‘1’ instead of ‘0’ (fixed cost template) is entered, to indicate calculating costs for each of the variable resources. The actual dollar amount will be configured in the cost model in a later step.

Figure4.3c.VariableCostTemplate–Production–RateFactors

5. Select Fixed Costs tab and select cost-per-OS-license from the drop down list, click on Add, then finally, Create to complete the cost template creation.

Figure4.3d.VariableCostTemplate–Production–FixedCosts

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6.Repeatabovesteps3–5forthedevelopmentvariablecosttemplatebyusing“variable-cost-template-development”forNameandDescription.Usethesamesettingsfor“RateFactors”and“FixedCosts”asinprevioussteps.Theonlyexceptionwillbetheratefactorof“Storage”onthe“RateFactors”tab,thatwillbeset to 0.5 to indicate the cheaper tier 2 storage hosting development virtual machines.

Figure4.3e.VariableCostTemplate–Development–RateFactors

7. You should now have two variable cost templates and you can click on the Details link in the description column to see a quick summary.

Figure4.3f.VariableCostTemplates–DevelopmentandProduction

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Step 2: Define variable cost model1. Click on Cost Models, then Create...,andenter“variable-cost-model”forNameandDescription. Figure 4.3 g. Variable Cost Model - General

2. Select Billing Policy tab and select Fixed Cost and Actual Usagefrom“BillingPolicy”dropdownlist.Leave Update from now onwards radio button selected.

Figure4.3h.VariableCostModel–BillingPolicy

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3. Select the Base Rates tab and for base rates enter the values 0.9, 0.8, 0, 0, 0.02, 0, 0, 0, 0.1 as displayed below. Click Create to complete the cost model setup. Please refer to the base rate calculations in section “VariableCostBaseRatesCalculations”forhowtheamountswerederived.

Figure4.3i.VariableCostModel–BaseRates

Step 3: Configure variable cost model1. Select the Configure Cost tab, click on Edit Entity Cost Configuration, expand the hierarchy. and select

the Development resource pool.Selectvariable-cost-modelin“CostModel”dropdownlist,selectvariable-cost-template-developmentin“ApplyCostTemplate”dropdownlist,checkUpdate Rate Factors, check Update Fixed Costs, check Distribute, and click Update to complete the new cost configuration for the“Development”resourcepool.ClickOK of dialog box that confirms the cost configuration has been updated for this entity.

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Figure 4.3 j. Configure Variable Cost - Development

2. Repeatthepreviousstepforthe“Production”resourcepoolbutthistimeselectvariable-cost-template-productioninthe“ApplyCostTemplate”dropdownlist.

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Figure 4.3 k. Configure Variable Cost - Production

Step 4: Run report with variable cost model1. Click on the Reportstab,rightclickon“Development”resourcepool,andselectGenerate Report on this

Entity.Enter“variable-cost-report-development”forNameandDescription.Selectvariable-cost-model fromSelectacostmodeldropdownlist.Ensureyouselectadateinthefuture(minimumtoday+1)asitwill make reconciling the report results less complex, due to the fact that Chargeback will take into consideration the current time of today when doing fixed cost calculations, e.g., if current time of day is 9pm, then it will prorate the OS-License over 3 hours (24-21) = $0.625 instead of the full $5.

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Figure4.3l.RunReport–VariableCostModel-Development

2. Review the report output and verify the results. To reconcile the results, note that currently only storage resource utilization is reported, as at least one hour has to pass before other resource metrics will be avail-abletobereportedon.TakeanexamplereconciliationfortheVM‘’:3.52GB*$0.10($/GB/hr)*0.50(ratefactor)*24(hrs/day)=$4.22+$5/day/OS-license=$9.22(TOTAL).

Figure4.3m.ReportOutput–VariableCost-Development

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3. Repeatthesamereportforthe“Production”resourcepool.ThistimeyouwillnoticehighercostintheProduction pool report than for Development pool for the same sized VM of 3.52GB. The reconciliation for thisVMinProductionisasfollows:3.52GB*$0.10($/GB/hr)*1.00(ratefactor)*24(hrs/day)=$8.45+$5/day/OS-license=$13.45(TOTAL).

Figure4.3n.ReportOutput–VariableCost-Production

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4.4. Generate comparison reportsChargeback has the ability to generate comparison reports that show the results of one cost model compared to another cost model.

In this scenario the results of the fixed cost model are compared to the variable cost model for the Development resource pool. The results are particularly valuable when migrating from a fixed cost to a variable cost billing strategy and to ensure that calculated resource costs, fixed costs, and rate factors are in line with expectations.

Step 1: Run comparison report1. If not already logged into Chargeback, log back in as user admin.

2. Select the Reports tab, expand the hierarchy and select the Development resource pool.

3. Right click and select Generate Comparison Report on this Entity.

4. Enterthevalue“comparison-report-development”forNameandDescription.Select fixed-cost-model in the first drop down list and variable-cost-model in second drop down. Choose a date in the future for a durationofonedayforthe“From:”date(minimumtoday+1)anda“To:”dateequalorlaterinthefutureasthe“From:”date.Thiswillmakereconcilingthereportresultslesscomplex.ClickGenerate Report to run the report.

Figure4.4a.GenerateComparisonReport–fixedvs.variable-Development

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Step 2: Review comparison report results1. Reviewtheresultsofthecomparisonreport.Notethedifferenceinbillingforthe“Development”resource

pool when using fixed (Total = $ 200) vs. variable (Total = $ 110.54).

Figure4.4b.ComparisonReportResults–fixedvs.variable-Development

2. From the comparison report one can see one of the key capabilities of Chargeback in action, for instance compare the results of one cost model with that of another. This is particularly useful when considering various cost models for a specific entity in that one can easily and quickly perform what-if scenarios when determining the optimal cost model for a specific entity.

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4.5 Setup automated reportsIn addition to generating reports on-demand, Chargeback can automatically generate reports at predefined intervals to further automate and support the business billing cycle.

This scenario will show how to setup automated scheduled reports.

Step 1: Setup report template1. If not already logged into Chargeback, log back in as user admin.

2. Select the Settings tab and click on the Report Template button. Select the Header tab.

3. Select Section One and then the radio button for Textandenterthetext”MonthlyCharges”. Figure4.5a.ReportTemplate–Header–Section1

4. Select Section Twoandthentheradiobuttonfor“ReportName”. Figure4.5b.ReportTemplate–Header–Section2

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5. Select the Title tab, then Section One, then the radio button for Textandenter“MonthlyCharges”. Figure4.5c.Template–Title–Section1

6. Select Section Two and then the radio button for Report Name. Figure4.5d.Template–Title–Section2

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7. Select the Footer tab, then Section One, then the radio button for Report Creation Time. Figure4.5e.Template–Footer–Section1

8. Click Save to save the changes that will be used next to generate automated reports using this report template.

Step 2: Schedule automated report1. Select the Reports tab and select Create Reports.

2. Expand the hierarchy and right click on Compute-Farm cluster, select Generate Report on this Entity andenter“monthly-billing-report-production”forNameandDescription.Next,generateareportonallresources in this cluster, where previously the resource pool level reporting was the focus

3. Select variable-cost-model from drop down list.

4. Select Generate This Report Nowoptionifnotalreadyselected.Completethe“EffectivePeriod”FromandTo dates. Typically this would be from the beginning of the month to the end of the month.

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Figure4.5f.CreateReport–General–ProductionMonthlyBillingReport

5. Select the Cost Info tab, uncheck Include resource summary in report, uncheck Show these columns in the usage table, uncheck Show these details in report. Uncheck the Show cost model info. At this point, unchecking all these details provides only summary amounts, not the detailed lines in the monthly billing report to finance.

Figure4.5g.CreateReport–CostInfo–ProductionMonthlyBillingReport

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6. To first validate the report output before setting up a schedule, click Generate Report and view the report output. Note the placement of the template items in the Header and Footer of the Report as per the Report template configured earlier. Also, note the placement of the Report Name and Description you entered dur-ing the report creation. (Note: Template Title Text and Report Name are on page 1 only. Template Header Text and Report name are on the remaining pages)

Figure4.5h.ReportOutput–UtilizingNewReportTemplate

7. Note the options for saving the report output by the various icons along the top of the report, i.e., Email, Save to Word, Save to PDF, Save to Excel. Test saving the report as an Excel file by clicking on the Excel icon . A Report Format box will pop-up and the Click to Download link (may be grey). Click it to

save or open this report in Excel.

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Figure4.5i.Report–ExporttoExcel

8. The output has been verified and the report template is producing the desired results, now schedule the report to run monthly by clicking the Reschedule this report icon (is in the same row of icons we used previously to save to Excel).

9. Specifyittorun“Monthly”,onthe1stdayofeverymonth,andtostartthefirstofthenextmonthanddonotspecify an end date. Click on Schedule to submit the report to run on a schedule vs. immediately.

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Figure 4.5 j. Scheduling Report to run automatically each month

10. Now select Schedule Reports to verify the scheduled report exists. Now, add the ability for the scheduled report to be emailed out when it runs on the defined schedule. This is achieved by selecting the report and then clicking on the e-mail icon . Complete the appropriate information and then click Send which will then present a dialog stating that the report will be emailed the next time it runs according to its definite schedule.

Figure 4.5 k. Emailing report

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This concludes the setting up of automated reports utilizing the report template, setting up a schedule, and emailing of these reports when they run.

4.6 Manage user accessChargeback includes appropriate user management features. The application has pre-defined a set of default permissions and roles. In addition, it allows you to create roles and users as per your own requirements.

This scenario will show how to setup access for a new Active Directory user with a pre-defined Report Viewer role. This role will allow the user to generate, archive, and view cost reports.

Step 1: Add domain group and user

1. If not already logged into Chargeback, log back in as user admin.

2. Ensure you know the name of a valid Domain User for your test domain as well as its primary domain groupmembershipandpasswordtouseinthisscenario.TheDomainUser“user1”andDomainGroup“DomainUsers”areusedinthesetupbelow.

3. Select the Users & Roles tab, click on the Users then click on Create. Select LDAP Group inthe“UserType”dropdownlist,selectyourdomain,inthisexample‘tml-ad01’in“LDAPServer”dropdownlistandenterthename of your Domain User in the search field and then select it in the search result list. Make sure the radio button Do not define any role now… is selected. Click Add to complete.

Figure4.6a.Users–Adddomaingroup

4. VerifytheDomainGroup“DomainUsers”hasbeenaddedtothelistofusers.RepeatthesamestepsandaddtheDomainUser“user1”andverifyit’saddedinthelistafterwards.RemembertochangeUserTypeto“LDAPUser”thistimearound.

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Figure4.6b.Users–DomainGroupandUserAdded

Step 2: Assign “Report Viewer” role to domain group

1. Click on Permissions.

2. Select the hierarchy name my-datacenter-hierarchy, select Domain Users in list of users.

3. Select Report Viewerin“SetRole”dropdownlistandclickApply. Ensure the green checkmark appears nexttothe“DomainUsers”underthe“Roles”column.

Figure4.6c.Permissions–DomainUsers–grantReportViewer

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Step 3: Run report as domain user

1. LogoutofthecurrentbrowsersessionandlogbackinastheADuser“user1”.Remembertoselect“LDAP”forthe“Logininto”optionthistime.

Figure4.6d.Login–LDAPuser

2. Afterlogginginyouwillnoticethereducednumberoftabsintheinterfaceas“user1”isonlyassignedthe“ReportViewer”role,allowingthisuseronlytogenerate,archive,andviewreports.

3. Select the Reportstabandrunavariablecostreportforthe“Development”resourcepool.

4. Verifythattheuser“user1”canrunandviewthereportoutput.

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Figure4.6e.RunReport–DomainUser

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5. Next stepsWith Chargeback, you can easily reap the following benefits:

• Createasimple,flexible,andaccuratemodelformeasuringcostsinasharedITservicesenvironment

• Makebetterresourceutilizationandallocationdecisionsbyensuringaccuratemeasurementofthetruecosts of virtualized workloads

• Helpendusersmakeinformeddecisionsaboutservicelevelsrequestedwithbettervisibilityoftheir associated costs

In this paper, six basic use cases of Chargeback have been presented. Chargeback offers many additional features such as sophisticated billing policies of actual usage combined with resource reservations, virtual machine cost sharing, enterprise-wide chargeback reporting across multiple vCenter Servers, and more. You are welcome to try these features. Please refer to the VMware vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide for more details.

5.1. VMware Contact InformationFor additional information or to purchase VMware vCenter Chargeback, VMware’s global network of solutions providers is ready to assist. If you would like to contact VMware directly, you can reach a sales representative at 1-877-4VMWARE (650-475-5000 outside North America) or email [email protected]. When emailing, please include the state, country and company name from which you are inquiring.

5.2. Providing FeedbackVMware appreciates your feedback on the material included in this guide, and in particular would be grateful for any guidance on the following topics:

• Howusefulwastheinformationinthisguide?

• Whatotherspecifictopicswouldyouliketoseecovered?

• Overall,howwouldyouratethisguide?

Please send your feedback to the following address [email protected], with “VMware vCenterChargebackEvaluator’sGuide”inthesubjectline.Thankyouforyourhelpinmakingthisguide a valuable resource.

VMware vCenter Chargeback Evaluator’s Guide:

Revision 20090709



mailto:sales%40vmware.com?subject=

mailto:tmdocfeedback%40vmware.com?subject=

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6. glossaryLDAP User Active Directory domain user

LDAP Group Active Directory domain group

LDAP Server Active Directory server

Compute-Farm NameofESXclusterinvCenterServerhostingVMsthatareusedasthesourceforcost reporting

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7. vMware vCenter Chargeback Evaluation WorksheetYou can use the worksheet below to organize your evaluation process.

Hardware Checklist:___PhysicalservercompatiblewithVMwareESX4.0Qty:___

___Storage(Shared/Local)>=24GB

___Onedesktop/laptoprunningMSWindows(e.g.XP/WindowsServer2003)

Software Checklist:___ Windows Server 2003 Installation CD image

___VMwareESXServer4InstallationDVDimage

___ VMware vCenter Server 4 installation zip file

___ VMware vCenter Chargeback installation file

___ License keys for all software components

Installation Checklist:___VMwareESXServer4installedonphysicalserver(s)

___VMwarevSphereClientinstalledonthedesktop/laptoprunningMSWindows

___VirtualmachinescreatedontheESXServerhostspreparedabove

___ Windows Server 2003 (W2K3) installed as the guest operating system

___ VMware vCenter Server and database installed on one of the W2K3 virtual machines

___ VMware vCenter Chargeback installed on the other W2K3 virtual machine

___ VMware vCenter Chargeback installed on the other W2K3 virtual machine

___AD/LDAPcredentialstosetupintegrationbetweenChargebackandAD

___ SMTP credentials to setup integration between Chargeback and email server

After you have successfully checked off the lists above, you can proceed to perform the evaluation of VMware vCenter Chargeback. For each scenario, you can use the corresponding checklist below to ensure that you are following the proper sequence.

Use Case 1: Create chargeback hierarchy___ Step 1 - Login to Chargeback

___ Step 2 - Create custom hierarchy

Use Case 2: Utilize fixed cost model___Step1–Definefixedcosttemplate

___Step2–Definefixedcostmodel

___Step3–Configurefixedcostmodel

___Step4–Runreportwithfixedcostmodel

Use Case 3: Utilize variable cost model___Step1–Definevariablecosttemplate

___Step2–Definevariablecostmodel

___Step3–Configurevariablecostmodel

___Step4–Runreportwithvariablecostmodel

Use Case 4: Generate comparison reports___Step1–Runcomparisonreport

___Step2–Reviewcomparisonreportresults

Use Case 5: Setup automated reports___Step1–Setupareporttemplate

___Step2–Scheduleautomatedreport

Use Case 6: Manage user access___Step1–Adddomaingroupanduser

___Step2–Assignroletodomaingroup

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8. variable Cost Base rates CalculationsNote that these calculations are only intended for illustrating how to calculate the base rates for various resources and not meant to represent any specific customer’s environment. Please refer to the Chargeback calculator link provided in the Help and Support During the Evaluation section to perform your own base rate resource calculations.

Resource

Recovery Term (years) 3

Cluster Characteristics

Total Number of Servers

3

Effective Number of Servers (n-1)

2

CPU Usage Costs

Server Node

Hardware Cost

(exc. RAM, network cards, HBAs)

$20,000.00

VMware License $10,062.50

Total $30,062.50

Cluster Total $90,187.50

Management Platform

vCenter License $10,000.00

Database Cost $15,000.00

Total $25,000.00


Disk IO Costs

HBA $5,000.00

SAN Switches/Server $3,440.00

Total $8,440.00


Memory Usage Costs

Memory Expansion Card $698.00

64GB of RAM $3,440.00

Total $4,138.00


Storage Costs

1 GB - Tier 1 $200.00

Cluster Total $200.00

OS License

OS License $5,480.00

Grand Total $5,480.00

Total Units for effective

cluster

Available Resources

# of Years

# of days/year

# of hours/day

Total Resources over total term

OS License

Total Costover total term

Cost per unit

CPU Usage - GHz Hour 32 3 220 8 128409.6 $115,187.50 $0.90

Disk IO - GB 7.9 3 220 8 31701.12 $25,320.00 $0.80

Memory Usage - GB Hour 128 3 220 8 513638.4 $12,414.00 $0.02

Storage - GB Hour 1 3 365 24 23652 $200.00 $0.01

OS License - Per Day 3 365 1095 $5,480.00 $5.00

VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Ave Palo Alto CA 94304 USA Tel 877-486-9273 Fax 650-427-5001 www.vmware.comCopyright © 2009 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws. VMware products are covered by one or more patents listed at http://www.vmware.com/go/patents.

VMware is a registered trademark or trademark of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All othermarks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. VMW_09Q2_vCenter_Chargeback_EG_P52_R1

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